The Shadow Garden

Precocious Lily Blackwood carries a burden no child should bear. As the last female of the Blackwood line, she is sworn to guard Nightfall Gardens and keep the fairy-tale monsters, old gods, and deathly shades sealed away from the world of men. If she fails, the horrors trapped there will spill into reality.

With the help of her brother Silas, the dusk riders, and her friend Cassandra, Lily fights to hold back the darkness gathering around the estate. But the creatures bound to the Gardens are growing stronger. A vengeful witch named Bemisch has slipped into the mist lands to join forces with Eldritch, a powerful nature god with his own designs. The enigmatic Smiling Ladies guard a secret tied to the Blackwood family’s darkest sins. And something new stalks the halls of the manor, waiting for its chance to strike.

Lily’s fourteenth birthday is approaching, and with it a dangerous rite of passage. To survive, she must enter the Shadow Garden, a realm where every nightmare has teeth, and confront the terror that has risen to claim her birthright.

The fate of Nightfall Gardens depends on her courage. The Shadow Garden waits.

Allen Houston is a native Oklahoman who has lived in Japan and Indonesia. He has worked as a journalist at the Dallas Morning News and New York Post. He’s currently city editor for Metro New York. Allen lives in Brooklyn with his wife, daughter and a menagerie of animals.